~~ Almost every Thursday for six months I have driven back from a class via the same route. There is a house facing the intersection where I invariably meet a red light. In the upper left window of that house, there is an overhead light that’s always on despite the bright sunlight of midday. Yesterday, for the first time in about 25 weeks, the light wasn’t on, and I started to speculate while I waited for the light to change. Maybe he or she was ill (or worse); maybe the person worked from home and lost his or her job. Did s/he move? Did the electric bill grow so high that no lights go on before 5:00 pm? Or… maybe the bulb blew out? Yeah, that’s probably it.

~~ I know a woman who is uber-conservative. She came to this country from Germany 60+ years ago but is now adamantly opposed to letting “any of those people” in the U.S. She detests the POTUS, but she was most gleeful when she shared the news with me that FLOTUS was divorcing him the moment his term ends. I wondered how she knew this tidbit, and she said, “I read it in the Enquirer.”

~~ She also hates the Pope, because he’s “too liberal.” I said he’s a very conservative liberal, or perhaps a very liberal conservative. “Nah, he’s just liberal,” she replied. “He doesn’t talk about people going to hell.”

~~ About the visit to the U.S. by Xi Jinping: “You watch. He’s going to join up with Hillary and try to make us all Communists.”

~~ Earlier in the week, it was downright chilly. I shivered and (as I do) started to complain. A lovely woman said, “I like autumn so much more than summer. Nobody snuggles when they are sweating but everyone gets snuggly when it turns crisp.” I don’t love fall, but I think she’s onto something.

~~ Talk about shifting perspectives. During savasana (a final, deep relaxation pose in yoga), a woman near me snored quite loudly for about five minutes. I peevishly thought, who the heck was she to disturb my repose? Then, as we gathered our mats to leave, the teacher walked over and gently awoke the snorer. The woman smile, stood up to reveal she was pregnant, and thanked the teacher. “That’s the first time I’ve slept in days.” Bam! Who the heck was I to begrudge a mom-to-be a mini-nap?